Box and method of making the same



G. C. BABGOCK. BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18. 19:4.

Patented Mar. 16,1920.

witnesses. G lzj fiizw jzgvgarfk u; a acoc UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUILFORD C. BABCOCK, 0F EVANS'ION, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 WIREBOUNDS PATENTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

Application filed September 18, 1914. Serial No. 862,413.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUILFORI) C. Bacis a specification, like characters on thedrawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to boxes and pertains more particularly to wircbmind and similar boxes. Among other objects, the in vention is intended to provide a box which shall be strong, light in weight, and susceptible of being manufactured economically. Also a box embodying features of the invention may be, to all intents and purposes, practically air and water tight.

The character of the invention may be readily understood by reference to the ac companying drawings, in which,"

Figure 1 is a side or edge view of an illus trative form of blank;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail showing adjoining portions of two side sections of the blank before folding into box form;

Fig. 3 is a view Similar to Fig. 2 and showing the same parts in folded positions;

Fig. 4.- is a detail section of the line a l of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective of a completed box.

Referring to Fig. 1, the illustrative form of blank comprises four side sections having respectively cleats 6, 7, 8 and 9. The side material for the box consists of the four parts 10, 11, 12- and 13, and these parts are formed integrally of a single .sheet, preferably, of such material as fiber board or the like. Extending along the side material and preferably stapled to thc'side material and cleats are binding wires 15, having free ends 16 and 17 at opposite ends of the blank serving as means for completing the closure of the box when the blank is folded as presently described.

At the points 20, 21, and 22, at which it is intended to form the box corners by bending the integral side material, the side ma terial is preferably treated in such manner as to render it sufiiciently flexible to admitof the required bending without substantial danger of breaking the side material. This general object has been sought in the prior art in attempting to make wirebound boxes of the type illustrated in the drawings, using for the side material sheets of s0- called rotary-cut veneer the veneer sheets were scored or grooved along the lines intended for the box corners in order to render the sheets flexible along these lines. This scoring or grooving involved the removal of some of the stock of the side sheets and unavoidably many of the fibers were severed and the strength of the material at the box corners was greatly reduced. As a result, the corners were very likely to crack and break seriously, and it was hence impossible in practice to make boxes of scored veneer upon a commercial scale.

In accordance with the present invention, however, the side sheet material is rendered flexible, when necessary, at the intended box corners, by compressing or otherwise distorting or treating the material along the lines of the intended box corners so as to render the material flexible without severing any of its fibers or sacrificing in any material degree the full strength of the material at the box corners. One practical mannor in which this result may be produced is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 in which the side material 11 and 12 is distorted at 25, as, for instance, by compressing the material between 'mating rollers, so as to render the material readily flexible, but without removing any of the stock or severing any fibers. When the material so treated is folded into box form as illustrated in Fig. 3, the corner of the fold is smooth and sightly and is substantially as strong as any other portion of the side ma terial.

The cleats 6, 7 8 and 9 may be of any suitably design, and as shown, they are mortised and tenoned as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

When the wires are stapled to the other parts, the staples preferably straddle the Wires, pass through the side material and enter the cleats as illustrated in Fig. 4. As there shown, a staple 30 is clenched in the interior of the cleat 7 as will be well understood by those skilled in the art.

In assembling the various parts for the blank shown in Fig. 1. the cleats are spaced apart endwise a sulfcient distance to facilitate folding from the positions shown in Fig. 2 to those shown in Fig. 3, and for the purpose of the specific form of blank the ends of the cleats may be positioned at the edges of the grooves in the side material as shown.

The flap 35 see Figs-l and 5) may be provided at one extremity of the side material to form an overlap of the side material at the cover closure as presently described.

Vhen the blank has been made as shown in Fig. 1 it may then be folded into box form around end pieces 38 which are preferably placed inside the cleats and stapled thereto by staples 39 as shown in Fig. 4. lVhen folded around'the ends, the part 13 of the side material serves as a lid for the box integral with the rear portion 12, and conveniently hinged thereto both by the integral connection and by the wires passing over the corners. When the lid is closed, the flap 35 may overlap or may be overlapped by the margin 10-, and the free ends 16 and 17 of the wires may then be twisted or otherwise secured together to complete the closure of the box.

There are many advantages in both a box and a method of manufacture embodying features of this invention. For instance, the illustrative box shown in Fig. 5 is very strong and very tightly closed at all points. The side material being in the form of an integral sheet having its strength substantially unimpaired at any point, is very strong and because of its integral character at the box corners may be made of artificially formed fibrous material such as fiber board or the like which makes a comparatively inexpensive material for such uses.

In ordinary usage and under the conventional tests, a unique and highly desirable reaction to distorting stresses and strains is observed in boxes embodying features of this invention.

For instance, a box having side material of fiberboard and having wooden cleats to which the binding wires and fiberboard side material are stapled, reacts to distorting pressures in a distinctively novel manner quite different from the corresponding reaction of cleatedi but unwired fiberboard boxes, or that of wirebound wooden boxes of the type shown in the Inwood and Lavenberg reissued patent No. 12,725, November 26, 1907. In a wirebound fiberboard box when a trihed a1 corner, for example. is subjected to a crushing pressure, the four cleats on the neighboring box-end, being flexibly bound together at their ends by the wire. tend to function as a flexible four-sided frame, susceptible of being flexed out of its normal plane when some portions of the frame accompany a crumpling movement of the fiberboard, but the members of the frame are'nevertheless strongly and flexibly held together as a frame by the Wire] This capacity of the cleat frame to flex and accomof the front side materialpany crumpling movement of the fiberboard, while the integrity ofthe frame is nevertheless securely maintained by the wire, minimizes the tendency of the fiberboard to tear or rupture under distortion and contributes otherwise a unique and desirable tenacity. flexibility and strength to the box. The foregoing merely exemplifies various novel characteristics of function and result involved in the behavior, under conditions of use, of a box embodying features of this invention-all as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise details of construction, organization and method of manufacture hereinbefore described for illustration. On the contrary, features of the invention may be variously embodied in different forms of boxes and similar receptacles (all of which are intended to be included within the term box as used in the claims) and likewise the method may be variously modifiedl The term fiberboard will'be understood as including other material of similar character suitable for box siding which tends to crumple rather than break under distorting pressures.

Claims:

1. A wirebound fiberboard box comprising in combination, fiberboard side material crimped and bent at box corners and extending integrally over said corners; cleats forming a frame at each end of the box. the fiberboard being wrapped around said frames; binding wire encircling the box in the normal plane of each cleat frame and tensioned over the corner crimps of the fiberboard; and fastening means securing said wires to the cleat frames to connect adjacent cleat ends securely and flexibly together by the wire; whereby the wires hold the cleat frames securely and flexibly in foursided frame shape while permitting said frames to flex from their normal plane appropriately to crumpling action of the fiberboard side material.

2. A wirebound fiberboard box comprising, in combination, a pair of cleat frames. one for each end of the box; an integral sheet of fiberboard.wrapped around said cleat frames; binding wires wrapped around the fiberboard in the planes of said cleat frames; and fastening means securing the wires to the fiberboard and cleat frames: whereby the wire hold the cleat frames securely and flexibly in frame form while permitting the frames to flex from their normal planes appropriately to crumpling action of the fiberboard side material.

3. A.box comprising, in combination, cleat frames at the box ends; side material comprising fiberboard extending integrally over corners of the cleat frames; and wires overlying the fiberboard and extending over the corners of the cleat frames to secure the adjacent cleat ends strongly and flexibly together; whereby the wired cleat frames may flex out of their normal planes appropriately to crumpling action of the fiberboard.

4. A wirebound fiberboard box comprising, in combination, a pair of cleat frames, one for each end of the box; side material comprising fiberboard wrapped around the cleat frames; binding wires wrapped around the fiberboard in the planes of the cleat frames; and fastening means securing the wires to the fiberboard and cleat frames; whereby the wires hold the cleat frames securely and flexibly in frame form while permitting the frames to flex from their normal planes appropriately to crumpling action of the fiberboard.

5. A fiberboard box comprising, in combination, a pair of cleat frames, one for each end of the box; fiberboard side material extending integrally over corners of the cleat frames; binding means wrapped around the fiberboard in the planes of said cleat frames; and fastening means securing the binding means to the fiberboard and cleat frame; said binding means holding the cleat frames securely and flexibly in frame form while permitting the frames to flex from their normal planes appropriately to crumpling action of the fiberboard side material.

6. A box of the character described comprising, in combination, side material continuous over box corners which tends to crumple under distorting pressures; cleat frames at the box ends to which said material is. applied; and flexible bindings,

around the cleat frames fastened through the side material to the cleats; said bindings holding the cleat frames securely in frame form and being flexible at the corners of the box in a manner toermit flexing of the cleat frames out of their normal planes appropriately to crumpling action of the side material.

{7. A box of the character described oom-v prising, in combination, a pair of cleat frames, one for each end of the box; side material continuous over box corners which tends to crumple under distorting pressures;

flexible metallic reinforcement overlying said material and extending over the corners of the cleat frames; and fastening means securing said reinforcement to the side material and cleat frames; said reinforcement being of a character to secure the side material to the cleat frames and to hold the cleat frames securely in frame form while permitting the flexing thereof out of their normal planes appropriately to crumpling action of the side materials.

8. A box comprising, in combination, side material continuous over box corners which tends to crumple under distorting pressures; cleat frames to which the side material is applied; and flexible metallic reinforcing means binding the side material to the cleats and securing together the adjacent cleat ends lOf said frames in a manner whereby said frames are held securely but flexibly in frame form while permitting them to flex appropriately to crumpling action of the side material.

9. A box comprising, in combination, side material continuous over box corners which tends to crumple under distorting pressures; and end structures having flexible metal r inforcement at the corners, overlying and binding the side material to the end structures and securing the respective end structures in unitary form while permitting them to flex at their corners appropriately to crumpling of the side material.

10. A box comprising, in combination, side material continuous over corners of the box which tends to crumple under distorting pressures; flexible end frames for said sidematerial; and binding wires encircling thebox to resist crumpling of the side material While permitting flexing of the end frames appropriate to crumpling action of the side material.

11. A box comprising, in combination, side material continuous over corners of the box which tends to crumple under distorting pressures; flexible end structures for the side material; and binding wires encircling the side ,material and resisting the tendency thereof to burst and thereby resisting a tendency to crumple while permitting the end structures to flex out of their normal planes.

12. A box comprising, in combination, side material continuous over cornersof the box which tends to crumple under distorting pressures; flexible end frames for said side material, and binding means secured to and encircling the box to resist crumpling of the side material while permitting flexing of the end frames appropriate to crumpling action of the side material.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GUILFORD G. BABCOCK.

Witnesses:

CLARENCE L. MILL'ARD, W'ARREN B. LEGLER. 

